Summer Love

Delegating The Workload

Sophie presented a piece of paper on the wooden table, "Now you can decide on what to do first." The paper contained a list of things that needed tidying up. "We'll need to sort through this list and finish them. It's quite alright if we can't finish them all today, but the priority would be their rooms. We want to make sure they have a place to sleep before the day is over."

Max turned the paper towards him, leaning forward to get a better look at its contents; mow the lawn, trim the garden, clean the benches, water the plants, rearrange the chairs and tables, scrub the floors, paint the doors. "Well, that seems simple enough. A lot more than I bargained for, but I think I can manage," he commented, standing up from his seat.

"That's genuinely good to hear, Max. The other volunteers I've brought usually quit before they even finish reading the list," she remarked with a nervous giggle.

He could notice a hint of sadness in her usually cheerful face. He went around the table and wrapped his arms around her. "Hey, I promised to help you, didn't I?" He whispered in her ear. She was taken aback by the sudden embrace, but she returned it with open arms. They held onto each other for a while before Max finally pulled away. They both looked into each other's eyes, their gazes locking for a moment too long. He shyly turned away out of embarrassment, "So uh, let's get started, yeah?"

Sophie let out a hearty giggle. "Yeah, that sounds good. Also, thanks for cheering me up." She smiled, getting up from her seat. Max nodded in quick succession, staying silent. She promptly left the room, and Max followed suit.

To his surprise, the old folks were nowhere to be found. The items on the tables have also been cleared, the television has been turned off, and the chairs have been placed at their respective tables. Max was dumbfounded. "Wait, what? Where did everybody go?" he asked, going up to one of the tables and looking around it.

She giggled softly at his reaction. "I had the workers take them out while we were discussing in the storage room."

"Oh, that makes sense. Though, I didn't see any workers on my way in," he said, still confused by the situation.

"I didn't want to overwhelm you, so I had them hidden in the residents' rooms before you entered. They also cleaned the rooms for us, so we could focus on the doors."

"Alright, that's pretty cool. I don't think I'd want to enter their rooms in the first place," he admitted, chuckling nervously.

"Well, you don't have to worry about that. So, what do you want to do first?" she asked.

He returned to the storage room with Sophie to review the list once more. "Hmm, I think we should repaint the doors. You did mention that we should prioritize their rooms. Maybe we'll scrub the hallway floors after that," he suggested as he looked at the list.

Sophie nodded in agreement. "Yeah, that works. We'll be able to get rid of any stray paint that way too. Good thinking, Max."

He beamed with pride at her comment. "Thanks. So, where's the paint?"

"Oh, they're somewhere here. Everything we need for the charity work is here, we just have to find them." She answered before looking for the items: buckets of paint and paintbrushes. Max searched for them in another area to cover more ground. They continued searching for a while until Sophie found them stashed away on a metal shelf.

"Max, they're over here!" she shouted, gesturing for him to come. As Max made his way to where she was, he accidentally tripped over one of the chairs and fell down beside her. "Oh my gosh, Max, are you okay?"

She tried to move to his side, but also tripped over his foot and fell over. He managed to stop her from falling completely onto him, but they still ended up in an awkward position. She was straddling his lap and their faces were inches away from each other, their lips almost touching. His hands were holding onto the side of her shoulders while her hands were planted on the floor with his head in between. They were both frozen in shock, their eyes locked on each other. He could feel her warmth through their clothes. Heavy breaths puffed out of her lips onto his, and vice versa. He noticed her face turning bright red, which also made his cheeks blush brightly.

He moved his body upright while gently pushing her away to avoid any accidental intimate acts. Soon after, they were both sitting upright with her still seated on his lap. Her hands held onto his shoulder for support while he moved his hands onto the ground. He pulled himself out from under her weight, which prompted her to quickly get up. She struggled to find the words to say, muttering gibberish under her breath. After a while, she stood still and sheepishly apologized. "I—I'm sorry about that."

He nodded in agreement, nervously rubbing the back of his head. "No, no, it's fine. It was my fault. I tripped first. I apologize."

Rather than continuing with the apology train, she decided to accept his. "Alright, you do have a point. Apology accepted." She smiled. "Now let's get some work done before any more accidents happen." She commented, kneeling down to grab the paintbrushes.

Max nodded in agreement, although he felt that more accidents were bound to happen sooner or later. Regardless, he knelt down beside her, taking a closer look at the inventory. He noticed there were several buckets of different colored paints. "Uh, which color are we using?"

"That's a good question, let's see." She put the paintbrushes on the table and knelt down beside him to look at the buckets. Max decided to scoot a few steps back to avoid another awkward incident from happening. She simply shook her head, giggling at his demeanor. She resumed looking at the buckets and patted two of them. "I think we'll use these."

He scooted forward to look at the colors she had chosen. "Brown, huh? I think that's much too similar to the walls in the main hall," he commented before searching for a more suitable color.

"What? Fine then, have it your way." She sulked, crossing her arms and pouting.

He shook his head in disbelief, flabbergasted by her reaction. He opened his mouth several times to say something, but only audible gasps were heard. Finally, he thought of something and held up his finger. Before he could say anything, Sophie burst out into laughter. She held a hand over her mouth in an attempt to stifle her laughs, but to no avail. He put his finger down. He crossed his arms, looking at her with a slight frown as she continued to laugh. Eventually, she simmered down and wiped a tear from her eye.

"Aw, I'm sorry, Max, I was just messing around." She assured him, leaning over to give him a quick hug. "You do have a point with the color though. Which color do you think would suit best then?" Max returned to his normal stance, taken aback by the hug. He decided to forgive her teasing, albeit he was still upset. He aggressively pointed at the bucket labeled Red.

"Red, huh? Works for me!" She chimed and tried pulling the bucket off the shelf. Much to her dismay, the bucket did not budge at all. This produced a soft giggle out of Max. As she continued her failed attempts, Max's giggle grew into a chuckle, and then into a hearty laughter. Eventually, she gave up and plopped down in front of him. "Fine, I may have deserved that. However, this is exactly why I need help."

Max immediately halted his laughter. He gave her a smug grin and cracked his knuckles. "I couldn't agree more." He whispered under his breath, lifting two buckets with ease. Though, it felt a little too easy. "Were you just messing with me? These aren't that heavy," he asked, lightly swinging the buckets in his hands.

Sophie shrugged her shoulders with an awfully innocent look on her face. "Yes, I was just messing with you, but they really do require me to use both hands to carry just one, and even then, I would still struggle."

"Alright then, you grab those paintbrushes, and I'll carry these buckets." He ordered, promptly exiting the room with the buckets.

"Aye, aye, captain!" She exclaimed, scooping up the paintbrushes and going after him.